Cambodian Americans

Cambodian Refugee Families

Cambodians who arrived in the United States in the 1980s lived through a series of political and sociocultural transformations, enduring decades of political instability, including the genocidal regime that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Many who survived the Khmer Rouge fled to Thai-Cambodian-border refugee camps, where they stayed, on average, five to seven years. Later they resettled in the United States as refugees.

This sequence of events had a significant impact on Cambodian family systems. Between 1975 and 1979, the Khmer Rouge systematically abolished the family unit, which was considered a threat to their absolute control. Children were separated from parents. Husbands and wives were separated from one another. The Khmer Rouge tried to remove any parental influence like parental love, support, and discipline, so that the revolutionary organization could have complete control over children. Many survivors’ stories and memoirs attest that the regime failed to destroy deep affection between family members, especially between parents and children. But the Khmer Rouge did succeed in creating a lasting impact on the integrity of the family through murder, forced separation, and instilling fear and distrust among people.

Today, Cambodian families in the United States are complex. A family may be comprised of individuals who, as children or adults, lived through the Khmer Rouge regime, fled to refugee camps, and resettled in the United States. The same household may include children born in refugee camps and children born in the United States. Almost all Cambodian families lost one or more family members. Although many reunited after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, some families were separated when they fled to refugee camps or resettled in the other countries. It is not uncommon for a Cambodian American family to have relatives resettled in France, Australia, or Canada, and some members still in Cambodia. Many Cambodians are still searching for family members with whom they lost contact more than 30 years ago.

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